Beyonce on Tuesday announced an expanded boxed-set of her multimillion-selling self-titled album as a new study ranked her as the past year's top-earning woman in music.
After rumors that she would drop another surprise album, the singer said that a platinum edition of "Beyonce," with two CDs and two DVDs, would feature two new songs, four new remixes with star collaborators and a concert video.
The edition -- which goes on sale on November 24 ahead of the holiday shopping season -- also includes the full album "Beyonce," which she released unexpectedly in December 2013 on iTunes with no prior publicity.
The announcement will temper speculation that Beyonce is planning another surprise album of entirely new material. Since the weekend, social media have been abuzz with an image of what appeared to be a record company memo describing an upcoming Beyonce release, raising hopes among her fans.
The purported memo said that a four-disc set would be physically released on "Monday, November 25," although  November 25 is a Tuesday
"Beyonce," which was accompanied by videos for each song, sold more than 3.5 million copies worldwide, broke the iTunes record for debut sales and spawned hit singles including "XO" and "Drunk In Love," performed with her husband Jay Z.
Forbes magazine, in a ranking on Tuesday, said that Beyonce was the top-grossing woman in the music business last year. She earned $115 million between June 2013 and June 2014 -- more than double the $53 million she made from the previous year, the magazine said.
Taylor Swift ranked second with $64 million. The time-frame does not cover her release last week of "1989," which is forecast to be this calendar year's top-selling album.
Pink, who has focused heavily on touring, was the third top-grossing woman in music followed by Rihanna and Katy Perry.
Beyonce enraged some major retailers by releasing the self-titled album last year first on iTunes, brushing aside the usual practice of timing digital and physical sales together.
The purported memo appearing on social media said that her new release would come out first on iTunes on November 14. Beyonce's announcement made no mention of an iTunes version.
The alleged memo also said that Beyonce's release would feature Rihanna, Justin Timberlake and Nicki Minaj which -- if accurate -- could explain the star collaboration promised in the boxed-set's announcement.
Source: AFP